Knitting needle



May 13, 1952 vrroux 2,596,311

KNITTING NEEDLE Filed Feb. 19, 1947 1%. 1 A /6 20 & Z/ /5 E2/ M6 M 9 as: 22/ [8 6 O F1 9" -8 Fly .10 Fly -12 /9c 67 /9b /a (2/ INVENTOR.

MAQCEL V/TOUX Patented May 13, 1952 KNITTING NEEDLE" Marcel Vitcux, Paris,.Francc, assignor. toAmerican Vitos Company, Inc., New York N. YjJ, a corporation of New York Application February 19, 19.47, Scrial ;No: 729}527. In France February; 15, 1945;

Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8; I946 Patent expires February 1 5; 1965 1 Claim. 1:

'i his inventionrelates to a well known type of needles used for mending stockings and other knitted goods, saidneedles being provided with pivoted blades that may be wholly or partially encased within the stem of the needle and are described and illustrated in the French Patents 817,936 dated May 20, 1936, and 849,455 dated July 29, 1938.

Before describing the present improvements it will be of considerable value in order that the said improvements may be thoroughly understood, to give a short rsume of the said prior patents. and. the reason for their existance.

As regards Patent 817,936, the needle which forms the subject-matter of said patent was conceived. inorder to replace or compete with the slidingrlatch type needles which at that time were the only needles capable of operating at high speed.

In one form of needle disclosed in this patent there is provided a pivotally mounted blade which has a nose for cooperation with the hook of the needle and a tail extending from the blade proper. This is a very simple form of construction and permits of rapid operation, the blade proper always being utilized for the formation of the mesh, while the tail contributes nothing to the said formation, its function at the time when the needle makes a new forward movement and the loop presses the needle backwards during the formation of the loop into a mesh, being only to promote this downward movement by reason of its contact with the new ascending loop, as well as by the inertia of the mass of the material which forms it and which projects beyond the nose of the blade proper.

Patent 849,455 is an improvement on the needle above described in the sense that it has no lower projection and the nose of the blade is arranged to project beyond the upper surface of the stem of the needle during the back stroke thereof, in order to catch the mesh, which in moving over the needle keeps the blade open due to its engagement with the tall with which it is provided, until the said tail is freed from the mesh. When thus freed, the tail tends to lift itself beyond the stem of the needle due to the effect of the inertia of its mass, and at the same time,

it facilitates the lowering of the blade when the mesh has reached the nose of the blade to close the blade against the hook of the needle.

Although high speed operation is obtainable with the tail blade type of needle and although the tail adds other important advantages to the operation of the-needle, it has been found that certain disadvantages accrue therefrom.

After lengthy experiments, applicant has found that althoughthegeneral length, breadth and general contour of the tail as now produced is essential to-good operation, the disproportionate or excessiveweight thereof causes the disadvantages above referred to. Chief among the said disadvantages is-the too violent impact of the rose of the blade proper against the point of thehook ofthe-needleat each operation. Due to thisrepeated hardimpact, both the point of the hook as well as the nose of theblade, become rapidly worn; such wear also causing sharp ridges which act as cutting edges and damage the threads of the article being mended. In some cases where the tail rests in a groove which does not entirely extend through the diameter of' the needle, thesudden lowering of the tail intosa-id grooveproduces a rebound of the blade and sometimes causes premature closing of the blade with the result that the action of the needle is irregular, thus cutting down the accuracy and speed of the mending device.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a needle which will have all of the desirable attributes of the present day mending needle minus its disadvantages.

In carrying out the objects of the invention, it was found after many tests, that by maintaining the general outline of the tail of the present day needle, but by reducing its weight or mass, all of the advantages of the old needle are maintained and the disadvantages thereof are eliminated.

The several forms of construction made the basis of exemplifying the present inventive concept suggest practical embodiments thereof, but the invention is not to be restricted to the exact details of this disclosure, and the latter, therefore is to be understood from an illustrative rather than a restrictive standpoint.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a present day mending needle, with the blade and supporting tail being shown in folded position;

Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1, but showing the blade and tail in closed position against the needle hook;

Figure 3 is a detail front view of the blade and tail shown in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a bottom View thereof;

Figures 5, 7, 9 and 11, and Figures 6, 8, 10 and 12 are respectively front elevations and bottom views of several different forms of the blade forming the subject matter of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and more especially to Figures 1 to 4, the numeral l5 denotes the stem of the needle, [6 the hook and I 1 the recess or groove provided in said body or shank in which groove the blade H] with its tail I9 is adapted to be partially or fully encased.

The said combined blade and tail is pivotally mounted on a pivot pin 20, the blade being provided with a nose 21 which may or may not project over the upper side of the needle. If desirable, the tail l9 may be provided with a projection on the lower side or edge thereof.

In Figures 5 and 6 there is shown one form of a blade made in accordance with the present invention. The said form comprises the usual blade portion 13 with its nose 2!, but having a tail portion l9a which is of the same length, width and general contour of the tail l9 but of lesser thickness, said thickness however, being such that it will not mar the needle point or plate hook 2| due to excessively violent contact when closing, being lighter in weight, the re bound when moving in the opposite direction will also be eliminated. The reduced thickness of tail may be obtained in various ways as for instance by grinding or filing one or both faces of the tail or it may be produced by swaging or by soldering or Welding a tail of lesser thickness to the blade.

In Figures 7 and 8, the tail 19b is shown as stepped down on both sides of the blade I8, but the mass thereof is no different than that of the tail l9a.

In Figures 9 and 10, the combined blade and tail is the same as that shown in Figures 1 to 4, but the tail I9 is provided with holes 23 to reduce the mass thereof.

Figures 11 and 12 disclose a form of the invention wherein a tail 190 made of a metal or alloy of lesser specific gravity than the blade l8 to obtain the required weight or mass of said tail. In this form the tail may be soldered, brazed or welded to the blade l8.

In all forms of the invention, the general contour, length and breadth of the tail portion is the same as that of the old form, but of a uniformly difierent mass.

It is apparent that the specific forms shown above have been given by way of illustration and not by way of limitation, and that the structure above described may be modified and varied without departing from the scope or intent of the invention.

What is claimed is:

A knitting needle, comprising a stem, a hook integral with said stem, said stem having a recess formed therein, a blade fitting in said recess and having a tail and a portion connected with said tail, said tail constituting the major portion of the blade, said portion being pivotally mounted in said stem and comprising a nose adapted to co-act with the hook of the needle, said tail being of lesser thickness than said pivoted portion of the blade.

MARCEL V ITOUX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 210,653 Adams Dec. 10, 1878 1,730,545 Van Dyke Oct. 8, 1929 1,730,546 Van Dyke Oct. 8, 1929 1,775,045 Messing Sept. 2, 1930 2,240,152 Alric Apr. 29, 1941 2,282,824 Primm May 12, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 6,652 Great Britain Mar. 19, 1907 

